


a whisper of smoke

by 180cm



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 15:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16390295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/180cm/pseuds/180cm
Summary: Renjun is a ghost and spends his days stalking cute boys (he might as well live out his extended life to the fullest).Jeno wants to know why there’s a (cute) transparent dude staring at him from the corner of his bedroom.





	a whisper of smoke

**Author's Note:**

> prompt #20 lets go stalk some cute boys with renjun!

In the five years Renjun had roamed the lonely world, he had been happy exactly twice before. The first time was when he successfully scared a group of children for the first time; he had conjured his scariest look and stepped out from behind a tree and laughed as the little kids dropped their bags of candy and ran back in the direction they came from. The second time was when he saw his parents at the airport, he was ecstatic, running as fast as he little transparent legs could take him through the masses of travelers towards the two figures at the front of the check in line, forlorn expressions on their faces, holding tight onto each other. When he had finally reached them, he ran straight through them and crashed onto the floor, watching them walk away as if nothing had happened. The moment was brief and short lived; the sadness followed too soon after. It was a defining moment in Renjun’s life- afterlife, a moment he realised he’d never be able to return to the life he once knew, he wasn’t dreaming, he wasn’t in a coma waiting to wake up; he was dead, buried six feet underground, rotting away for the rest of eternity.

Renjun spent the next few years wandering through the country, wreaking havoc in popular haunted places; taking his frustration out on the objects at his disposal, throwing bookcases at teenage boys who dared to stop by and breaking camera of strangers trying to capture some supernatural activity.

It was a lonely time for Renjun.

But not anymore.

Last year, a week before Halloween, in his sadness stupor, he had stumbled into the house of Lee Donghyuck, who he watched for the next two days from a rocking chair in the corner of his bedroom.

Lee Donghyuck was a pretty boy. His eyes sparkled like the stars and his skin glowed like the rays of the sun isolated in the vast emptiness of space- or in Donghyuck’s case, the overcrowdedness of his bedroom. His hair was a beautiful caramel, some strands occupied with every shade of the rainbow; cool blues complimenting warm pinks against a caramel canvas.

Renjun spent the days watching the boy play outside in the yard with his younger siblings and the nights waiting for him to return after he snuck through his bedroom window.

It was a good set up, it gave Renjun plenty of time to contemplate his unfortunate situation while also staring at a pretty boy as he struggled with his homework before giving up and going to sleep.

It was a good set up until Donghyuck had come crashing through his bedroom door on Halloween, lips locked together with his boyfriend, Jaemin - also a pretty boy Renjun like looking at - falling on top of one another on the bed. Donghyuck has turned to the side and seen Renjun, who, in the midst of pretty boys, had forgotten that he could materialise on Halloween, and started screaming. He had quickly pushed Jaemin away from him and thrown pillows (and then everything else he could get his little grubby hands on) at Renjun who had panicked and jumped out of the window, running as fast as he could away from the alarm clock Donghyuck had trained on him and never seeing the sunshine boy ever again.

After that incident, Renjun had decided he would make the most of this shitty situation he was stuck in and started following cute boys that he saw on the street home, spending a few days with them before moving onto a different house and stalking a different boy.

He never spent more than a week with anyone, with the exception of Dong Sicheng. Sicheng reminded Renjun a lot of himself, he saw Sicheng as an older brother and had wished they could’ve met when Renjun was still alive. Most of all, the reason why Renjun spent almost three months with Sicheng, was his parents. Sweet, caring parents who reminded Renjun too much of his own parents who had escaped to China after the loss of their son, not being able to cope with all the memories they had of their son in this country, everywhere they turned they saw Renjun. Renjun spent an equal amount of this time in the Dong house with all the residents. He spent the day with Sicheng’s mother, watched her clean the house, do the laundry and other chores, read her book until Sicheng came home and she started on dinner. When Sicheng came home, Renjun retreated to his bedroom with Sicheng, watching him do his homework as quickly as possible so he could play his video games. When Mr Dong came home, Renjun followed him around as he got rid of Day Dong and became Night Dong, pressing kisses to his wife’s temple as she plated the food and went upstairs to call his son down for dinner. The family sat around the table eating dinner and talking about their days as Renjun watched in awe from the couch in the living room.

It got too much for Renjun to handle three weeks into the third month of his stay with Dong Sicheng and he woke up one morning, jumping out of Sicheng’s open window and running away from a life he could never have.

He wandered around the he city for a few weeks, too sad to look for cute boys until Wong Yukhei flew past him at the train station. Renjun stares after him then turned towards the direction Yukhei had come from to see a group of “bad” school kids running after him, wearing identical angry expression. Renjun blew a gust of wind as they passed him, making them trip and fall over, before he started running after Yukhei instead.

The stalking - or as Renjun liked to call it, systematic observation of living beings - continued over the next year, Renjun visiting a new boy every few weeks not wanting to be in one place for too long in case he got attached again.

It was October 23 when he stumbled into the house of one Lee Jeno. He had originally just gone in to take a nap after an exhausting day but when he woke up from said nap, looking around the messy room, he noticed a wall of pictures. He walked over to the wall and observed the many pictures littered on it. Pictures of families and friends, of pets and scenery across Seoul. There was a tug in the back of his mind reminding him of his own short lived life but Renjun ignored it and focused on the pictures again. Among the pictures there was one constant, a boy who was in all most all of the pictures, eyes red and cuddling with cats; with his parents during a picnic at the park; and with friends lounging on the bleachers at school.

Later that night he came to know this boy as Lee Jeno.

Pretty boy. Renjun might even say hot if he wasn’t trying to act cool.

Jeno was bright. For the entire week Renjun spent watching him, he never saw a moment the boy wasn’t smiling. Kind smile mirrored in his sparkling, crescent eyes. He was always bubbly and loving. Renjun became fond of the boy, enjoying the piece of life he experienced by studying the boy.

Throughout the week, Renjun went through the motions of Jeno’s life, he inspected every aspect of his home life, followed him around the house as he did his homework, completed chores, spent time with his family. It was similar to the time he spent with Sicheng only, Renjun didn’t allow himself to get too involved, feel too much. One day, Renjun decided to tag along as Jeno went to school; he saw Jeno falling asleep during his boring English class. He concluded that one of the advantages of being dead was no more school.

During his trip to the school, Renjun got to see Jeno with friends; laughing at a joke one of them said, shiny brown hair falling over his eyes and Jeno shaking his head to remove it. It was a wonderful sight to witness, Renjun practically cooing whenever it happened, occasionally clutching at his chest as a momentary lapse in his cool guy facade that he had up for literally no one to see.

Renjun might be a little in love with Jeno. Not that he would ever admit that, even if he was dead.

He sighed as he fell back on Jeno’s bed, staring at the ceiling, bored out of his mind as Jeno sat at his desk, finishing his homework.  _ Ugh, fucking goody two shoes,  _ he thought as he shot him a dirty look,  _ sneak out and have some fun. _

  
  
  


From his desk, Jeno resisted the urge to look behind him, at the transparent boy throwing a fit on his bed.

It was scary and confusing at first when Jeno came home from school one day and saw a transparent figure asleep on the swinging chair snug in the corner of his room next to the window, the sunset shining on his golden, pale and see through but nonetheless golden, skin. 

Jeno considered confronting the boy when he eventually woke up later that night but considering he was transparent and probably a supernatural being he didn’t want to cause the angry side of the boy to come out and, you know, kill him. He decided to just let him be and maybe he would go away after a while,  _ if I’m not going crazy  _ , he had thought. However as the week went on, the glowing boy continued staring at him as he went on with his life, he even followed him to school and Jeno watched, through hazy eyes, as Renjun fell asleep during Ms Kim’s English class. Jeno thought it was the cutest thing he had ever seen in his life.

 

Right now, Jeno was trying to focus on his math homework before his friends arrived to go trick or treating but all he could hear was the rustling of his sheets where Casper the Annoying Ghost was doing everything in his power to piss him off.

Finally, after two hours of getting no work done, Jeno gathered up enough courage to say a few words to Casper.

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he slowly spun around in his chair to face the boy.

As he opened his eyes, the words died in his throat as new ones stuttered out.

“You’re not glowing anymore,” he said, confused and almost disappointed.

Renjun ignored him at first, not knowing he was being spoken to, however after a second, it occurred to him that there was no one else in the room and he hadn’t heard Jeno’s phone ring. He lifted his head, the weight of his body resting on his elbows as his legs stopped kicking.

He stared at Jeno staring at him for a long time, neither boy moving for a long while until Renjun cleared his throat and finally spoke up.

“Y-you can see me?” He asked.

Jeno nodded slowly. Renjun pushes himself up and sat properly on the bed.

“How?”

“I don’t know?” Jeno asked. “At first you were… transparent, I guess but tonight, just now you just, you stopped glowing,” As he finished talking, Jeno got up from his desk and slowly started approaching the boy sitting on his bed, who now had confusion plastered on his face.

Jeno stood in front of Renjun, staring down at him, head cocking to the side as he reached out his hand and brought it to Renjun’s face, poking his cheek- twice, to make sure he was real.

“Whoa,” He said, stepping back.

Renjun continues staring at him, shocked and confused.  _ What the hell is happening? _

Renjun suddenly had a thought.

“What day is it?” He asked, snapping out of his reverie.

“Wednesday,” Jeno supplied.

“No, like, the date. What’s the date?” He got up and walked over to Jeno’s desk to look at the calendar sitting on it. He picked it up as Jeno settles next to him.

“31st,”

“Halloween,”

They both said at once.

“Wait,” Jeno said, looking at Renjun. “Are spirits supposed to, like, come to life or something on Halloween? You are a spirit, right?” He asked.

Renjun put the calendar back down and peered through the curtains at the kids starting to go trick or treating.

“Yeah, I guess. A ghost,” He replied, looking back at Jeno but avoiding his gaze. “I, uh, died a few years ago.”

“Oh,” Jeno said, “I’m sorry that you died?”

Renjun looked him in the eyes, confused by his demeanour.

“Uh, thanks?” He turned away and walked to the swing chair Jeno had found him in on that first night and sat down, swinging his legs and looking around the room.

“What’s your name?” Jeno asked.

Renjun was caught off guard, not expecting the question- not expecting the kindness Jeno was showing him.

“Renjun,” He said after a while. “My name is Renjun, Huang Renjun. 

“Well, Huang Renjun,” Jeno clapped his hands together, pocketing his phone after sending an apology message to his group chat and looking at Renjun expectantly. “You wanna go trick or treating?”

  
  
  


“Wow, I haven’t tasted candy is five years, oh my god, I missed it so much!” Renjun exclaimed as he shoved more candy in his mouth. Jeno smiled over at him. He was in awe of the boy as he experienced his first contact with the human world in years.

Renjun has informed him that he had forgotten it was Halloween and that he materialises on Halloween hence why Jeno could see him however they hadn’t figured out how and why Jeno could see him before, in his transparent state but decided it didn’t matter and gone out trick or treating and scaring teenagers - Renjun jumping out from behind a tree with his face distorted and Jeno hunching over from laughing too hard as the teenagers screamed and ran away.

They were walking along the empty street, the kids long retired back to their homes and the teenagers busy getting shitfaced at parties. The autumn leaves crunching under their feet, the breeze blowing their hair in their faces, causing Jeno to shake it out of his eyes and Renjun to coo inwardly.

They approached a cross section at the end of the street, left, right or straight?

Renjun stood in the middle of it, looking around in all directions trying to decide which way to go. He settled on straight forward, continuing the path they were already on but he was harshly yanked to the right and pulled behind Jeno as he ran along the street.

“Slow down, Jeno,” Renjun screamed, trying to free his wrist from Jeno’s tight, yet still gentle, hold.

“Come on,” he replied, releasing Renjun’s hand and slowing down to a fast walk. “There’s this place I know, you can see all the stars, they’re so pretty- it kind of reminds me of yo-” he stopped himself from saying anything more to embarrass himself.

Renjun smiled to himself and followed Jeno to a tall structure in the middle of a hay field. Why there was a hay field in the middle of a suburb, Renjun didn’t know but he didn’t really care right now.

Jeno lead them up the stairs on the side of the structure and to the roof, reaching out a hand to Renjun and pulling him up the rest of the way.

Renjun walked over to the edge, looking down at the suburb below him.

“Do you think I’ll die if I jumped right now?” He asked.

Jeno’s face contorted in an unreadable expression.

“What?” He said, “Renjun, you’re already dead.”

Renjun laughed, turning to look at him.

“Yeah, but like, I’ve materialised,” He said, “So would I die again if I fell from here?”

Jeno didn’t have an answer so he walked over to the side and bent down to open a latch. He pulled out what Renjun guesses was a blanket and motioned for Renjun to come over as he opened up the blanket and placed it on the centre of the roof.

He laid down on one side of the blanket, facing towards the sky and patted the space next to him for Renjun to lie down on.

The pair lay in silence under the dark blanket of the sky, staring at the twinkling stars moving ever so slightly, both at total ease, calmness taking over their minds and bodies.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours, neither of them daring to speak in fear of ruining the moment.

It was perfect.

“I used to always want to see the stars,” Renjun said, finally breaking the silence. Jeno tore his eyes away from the sky to look at Renjun’s profile and he could see the glistening tears threatening to spill from the boy's soft eyes.

“Why didn’t you?” Jeno asked, unsure if it was the right thing to say.

Renjun sighed, turning on his side and shrugging.

“I don’t know,” He said, “I guess I figured I had all the time in the world and never got around to doing it. Look how that turned out,” He laughed to lighten the mood.

“I’m sorry you had to go so soon,” Jeno said, not making fun of Renjun’s situation for the first time that night, taking the time to address how horribly fucked up it was.

Renjun shrugged again, the tear slipping out but he didn’t notice. “It’s whatever,”

“It’s not whatever,” Jeno was quick to argue. “You were only a kid, you had your whole life in front of you, you had so much time left to live- it shouldn’t have been taken from you. You don’t deserve that, no one deserves that.”

Renjun was lost for words. This usually bright and smiley kid in front of him was now all serious and… mad at his situation, defending his life and calling out the unjust world - it was the first time anyone had done anything like that for Renjun, it was the first time, in a long while, anyone had even acknowledged Renjun and he was overwhelmed. Too many emotions taking over time at once, not giving him a chance to breathe.

He stared at Jeno, watched as the corners of his mouth drew inwards and his brows creased on his forehead, confusion taking over his whole face. Eyes still bright and sparkly.

“What?” He asked.

Renjun continued looking at him, studying every feature, committing it to memory. His eyes, the way his nose was scrunched up, his pout, his lips - Renjun loved his lips, they looked welcoming and soft, he wondered if they felt soft too. He blinked, moving his gaze back up to his eyes and remembering what he had said earlier.

“What were you gonna say earlier?” He asked but Jeno remained silent and confused. “When you said this place, the stars, reminded you of something,”

Jeno’s cheeks turned red, his mouth hanging opening and his eyes pleading Renjun to forget but Renjun smiled instead, wide and expectant. Jeno closed his eyes and sighed.

“I was going to say that it kinda reminds me of your eyes,” he opened his eyes, staring straight into Renjun’s, holding his gaze firmly. “Your eyes sparkle like the stars.”

Renjun continued staring at him, holding eye contact, trying to find something in his eyes - something, anything…

A moment later, Renjun had his lips on Jeno’s, kissing him, feeling his soft lips,  _ yes, they were soft _ , moving against his own. It was quick, Renjun pulling back as soon as he realised what he was doing. He sat up and cleared his throat, looking anywhere but at Jeno.

He cleared his throat and fiddled with his hands and Jeno laughed, causing Renjun to turn back and shoot him a deathly glare, which just made Jeno laugh more.

“You want ice cream?”

  
  
  


“So, what’s your favourite food?” Renjun asked, licking at the ice lolly in his hand as he kicked his feet back and forth off the side of the structure. They were now sitting on the edge, resting against the railing - Jeno insisted - and eating ice lollies that Jeno had stashed away in a cooler next to the blanket.

Jeno has to think for a moment but soon settling on an answer, excitement taking over his features.

“Jjampong!” He replied, wide smile plastered across his faces.

Renjun’s eyes lit up as he beamed at Jeno.

“I love jjampong!” He exclaimed and the two boys giggled as they discussed the dish.

“Okay, okay, favourite colour?” Renjun asked, back on track.

“Blue!”

“Makes sense, moving on...”

“Favourite subject?”

“History.”

“Favourite- no least favourite food! What’s food do you hate?” Renjun asked, changing course.

Jeno’s face scrunched up in disgust as he answered. “Oysters.”

Renjun laughed at the expression on his face and prodded for an explanation but was met with more face scrunching by Jeno.

“Favourite season?”

“Winter!”

Renjun stares at him. “It’s cold,” He stated.

“Exactly!”

Renjun shuddered and asked his next question.

“Favourite flower?”

“Cherry Blossoms! I wanna go see them in Japan!”

Renjun smiled at him in awe, fascinated by his enthusiasm and the realness of his future, smile fading as he remembered the nonexistence of his own. He shook the thoughts out of his mind and focusing on the interrogation.

“Ooh! Where in Korea do you wanna visit?” Renjun asked, proud of himself for coming up with the question.

Jeno looked out over the suburb, thinking. “The sea,” He said after a while.

Renjun looked over at the houses below him, recalling a memory from his human life.

“My parents took me to the sea once,” he started, Jeno turning to look at him.

“I was maybe 7 years old, we played on the beach and my dad took me into the water even though my mother protested because it was an unusually chilly day and she was scared I would catch a cold.” Renjun laughed at the memory, subtly reaching a hand up to his face to wipe at the traitor tear which had spilled out. “It was the best day of my life.”

Jeno scooted closer to him so he could wrap an arm around his small frame, drawing him in close to him and hugging him tight.

Renjun rested his head on the Jeno’s shoulder as the two looked down at the empty streets and decorated houses, the stars still twinkling above them.

  
  
  


“Favourite drink?” Renjun asked as they walked down the streets, joined hands swings between them.

“Smoothies,”

“What kind?”

“Any!” Jeno said, cocking his head to the side with a smile. 

“Keeping your options open, I see,” Renjun said with a hand on his chin, trying to look thoughtful.

Jeno laughed and pulled at the boy’s arm, yanking him into his chest and embracing him in a tight hug that had Renjun begging for air, not that he needed any.

Jeno suddenly let him go, stepping back to put some distance between them, a look of horror taking over his face as he stared at Renjun.

Renjun, scared and worried, followed his line of vision to his chest where his hand-  _ oh. _

Renjun quickly hid the fading limb behind his back, pretending not to have seen it.

He scratched the back of his neck with his still visible hand before taking hold of Jeno’s hand again, dragging him behind him.

“W-what time is it?”

No answer.

Renjun continued, “You have to be home before midnight, Cinderella.” Renjun laughed at his own joke, poking Jeno on the side to get a reaction out of him. Jeno smile but his hold on Renjun’s tightened as he did so.

One hour and several kisses later, they approached Jeno’s house, the boy slowing down but Renjun didn’t stop until Jeno stopped completely, his hold on his hand stopping Renjun from walking any further.

“I have to go, Jeno,” Renjun chokes out, pleading Jeno with his eyes to understand.

Jeno didn’t say anything, instead pulling him closer towards him.

Renjun put his fading hands on his chest, pushing them apart, pushing Jeno away. But Jeno was persistent, holding on to Renjun’s hand and refusing to let go.

“I wanted to live,” Renjun said, a white light appearing behind him. Jeno looked over his shoulder at the light, questioning its appearance. He held on tight to Renjun’s hand.

“You gave me a chance to do that,” The look of confusion on Jeno’s face amplified. “I’ll never forget that,” and then as an afterthought, he added, “I’ll never forget you.”

Jeno watched, helpless and confused, as Renjun reluctantly pried his hand out of Jeno’s grasp and retreated into the darkened horizon. He could see Renjun’s eyes sparkling with tears threatening to spill but the smile and the way he bit his lip showing he’s trying hard to hold them back. Renjun wanted Jeno to remember him happy. So he smiled and walked until Jeno could only see the silhouetted trees hanging in the horizon.  

**Author's Note:**

> hope u liked it, leave me nice things please :) 
> 
> [ twitter ](HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/180CENTIMETRES) [ cc ](HTTPS://CURIOUSCAT.ME/MARKLY)


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